Change your perspective in a BIG way with Elevated Photos
By
Shawn Barnett, The Imaging Resource
(Friday, February 25, 2005 - 01:00 EST)
In giving advice to amateur photographers who want better pictures, one of the key pieces of advice is to take initiative and change your angle on a subject. This is as true for kid photographs (get down to their level) as it is for just about anything else commonly seen from the adult point of view of about four to six feet off the ground.
Many photographers also use a ladder, and I've posed models on the ground for an unusual point of view. Well, now there's another option that looks high above crowds and gives an angle that even a ladder can't deliver.

In fact, before the advent of Elevated Photos, you'd need a helicopter or very brave grip in a building to get photographs from so high up. Called Aerial Photography Systems, the product is essentially a large, pneumatically-operated telescopic pole or mast that raises a camera 53 feet in the air. It has a three-footed base and is secured with three or six guy ropes for stability in 60 to 80 mile per hour winds, according to the company's founder, Simon Bourne.

The system is designed to work primarily with Canon digicams, because Canon's Remote Capture software can control most all of a digicam's functions via a USB cable connected to a Mac or PC, and these cameras can return a live view back to the computer, unlike most SLRs. An included tilt/pan head is controlled via a simple remote control unit at the top of the camera mount which can swivel 360 degrees.

The aerial system is also easily transported to the site via a small car with a roof rack. It's no impulse buy, but as the literature suggests, it could be a good business opportunity. You'd need a good reason given the unit's US$15,000 price tag. See the video on the company's website for a complete setup demonstration. The company is currently based in the UK, but they expect to soon have a US office. Until then, see the site and video at
www.elevatedphotos.com